TAYLOR HOME REPAIR

Art and Shawn were both thorough and methodical, from the deconstruction of the existing cabinetry to the building of shelves to fit a custom space, to installation of floor tiles, the work was careful and top notch. There were some unexpected hitches (one involving rehanging a door) but they handled those well. They also took the time to find a close as possible a match to our existing ceiling molding (which is no longer made as it is from 25 plus years ago) and reused as much of the existing lumber as possible. Terrific all around job. Very happy with the result.

Art stopped by and took a look at the problem. He made sure I had everything he needed to make the repairs, then came back a few days later to finish the job. This involved replacing some rotting floorboards, cutting and replacing the tiles, grouting and then caulking. All done professionally, I would hire him again without hesitation.

Great job. He had to make a frame, buy a window to fit, insulate and install and finish the dry wall enclosure. Excelllent work and fair price of about $800

Great overall. Knowledgeable, skilled, quick and clean. Art did what he said he would and most importantly he doesn’t cut corners. Sound, quality work. Would use him again for sure.

Art was punctual, methodical, and clearly knew what he was doing. He was determined to solve the problem. Also, my cat approved of him. It was more expensive than I thought it would be, but that’s because it took longer than I thought to fix the problem.

Art is knowledgeable, efficient, and professional. Charges reasonable fees. Our own schedule is flexible, so timing was not a issue.

Art is meticulous in everything that he does. He stopped by my house to have a look at the work that needed to be done and told me the hardware that was needed. Once I bought the hardware, he came back to do the work. I had two large, heavy wall mirrors that needed to be hanged and Art looked into every minute detail and made sure that the work was done right the first time around. He figured out that my wall edge was not exactly straight and he gave me an option to either have the mirrors parallel to the wall edge or straight and perpendicular to the floor. It was his professionalism and level of detail that I admired and would hire him again for work around the house.

The contractor did excellent job in sealing the brickface on front of house. He responded quickly to request for estimate and arrived on time to complete repairs.

excellant work

Everything went well. Because of the July/August heat, the work, which would normally have taken about a day and a half, was broken down into smaller chunks of time to be done over a few days during the cooler morning hours. Mr. Balinkie completely cleaned up each time, which was very nice. Final result was great.

Was quoted $850 plus materials. There was some rot on the latch side of the door so the wall had to be opened to repair. Art told me the total cost would now be $1250, which I agreed to. Invoice comes and it's $2100. When I asked what caused the dramatic increase, he said things took longer than expected. When I asked why there was no communication to that effect, no real answer. We ultimately agreed on $1600, still $350 more than I was quoted. Beware that labor is charged per man/hour, so if he decides he needs a helper, you will pay double the quoted labor price. The work was good but took 3+ days - should've taken 2 max.

I first called Art on a Sunday and left a message. He promptly called me back on Monday AM, came by to assess the job that afternoon and had a quote to me by Monday evening. This is in contrast to others who would not even return my call. We arranged a time and Art's partner Shaun came by to further assess the job the next day. They arrived promptly at 8:30 AM on the day scheduled. The job turned out to be more complicated as finding the right pieces of siding that limited seams, matched, etc. was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. But Shaun and Art planned well and completed the job in a timely and professional manner. We were happy with the outcome would definitely hire them again for handyman services.

Art replaced a lock on my front door which I attempted to replace with another lock. He quickly spotted the problem that I was encountering and the new lock was installed. He also modified a door frame so that the door would finally latch shut. He worked around my schedule which made it made it very convenient for me. I will definitely hire him for other home repairs.

Art was on time, did a neat, careful job, and was pleasant to deal with.

I told them that I like to replace a fence on one side of my property, I specifically told them that I have specific budget. Originally they quoted me $700-800. But, after all was done it came out to be $1200. They charged me for everything, getting materials, renting a truck to get the materials, having extra help, etc. And bad enough, they did not even finish the job and came back for more and charged me another $60. I would not recommend them, they specifically give low number to just to get contract. They even specifically told me that it would not be over $800. They do okay job, not a best work but acceptable.

Art is a really great guy.  His work is impeccable.  I would call him more an artisan than a handyman.

He estimated this job would cost $700.  I know there are a few bullets up there, but the cabinet lock and securing the molding I figured would be 15 mins each (being conservative).  I know that you have to wait for patch to dry, primer to dry, etc.  But I couldnt quite wrap my head around 10 hours (more or less) for this list.

So, I asked him to drop some scope, and we would aim for $500.  So we dropped the removal of the childproofing items (a wildcard in terms of how long it would go).

I have to say, some of the delay was self inflicted (we werent home when we agreed to meet, etc), and Art was excellent at communicating the burn rate against the estimate.  That said, we were at $600 and not nearly done with the reduced scope items.

So I ended up paying $600 (turned into $640 as I forgot to ask if his quote included tax--it did not.  My bad on that one) and am now painting and installing the cabinet magnet.

All that being said, Art is completely professional.  Does great work.  But you have to know that he works at a measured pace.  That costs money.  He also sometimes leverages a colleague (also a great guy.  Does terrific work).  This counts against the burn rate (ie, his rate is $80ish for the first hour, $60ish for each hour after.  If he needs help, this doubles).  I knew this ahead of time, and Art walked me through it, but it definitely impacts bottom line.

I would use Art again, but maybe for something less paint-heavy.  I would look for places to use his skills more efficiently

I can not speak highly enough about Art as a person and as a craftsman. He is a man of integrity and honesty who is true to his word. He arrives at your home when he says he will and, if anything interferes that might cause a delay, he contacts you. The quality of his work is excellent. He takes great care to do it right. And the cost for his services are very reasonable. I will definitely be using Art's services in the future and highly recommend him to others.

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My mistake was not getting a written estimate in advance. He seemed so nice, said it would cost about $100 for trim, only the labor to take the old trim down and replace with the new was left. It was about four places in the kitchen. I stupidly thought it would take him two hours, and that's fine. He said it's $65 an hour. The night before he called to confirm and said he is going to have a helper, Shaun with him and asked if that was fine. Shaun showed up a half hour before Art. They worked really slowly, to the point of me cancelling my doctors appointment in the afternoon. I've owned houses over 35 years and I'm not ignorant to the amount of time it typically takes for these types of jobs. When I asked him what the total was, he told me it was over $800 I was nearly floored. When I inquired about the cost, he angrily responded explaining that it was two man hours for his helper, and almost yelling that he would have had to be there all day if not for his helper. He was menacing and I was afraid to respond back to him after that. The work came out fine, it wasn't a big deal, just cutting pieces of already painted wood, but he should not have added his helper without approval beforehand.

unknown

Everything worked out fine. I would use him again.

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